Give Me Love
by Kasamyra
Summary: Tash, the daughter of two wealthy business people, has always been happy. All she wants though, is to get away from her judgmental parents and do something worthwhile with her life. After moving to London with her brother, she thinks she finally has her life figured out. Now, nearly four years after her move, she is about to find what she has been missing all along.


Chapter one

The coffee shop was quiet, and nearly empty, but as it was a Sunday afternoon, that was only to be expected. The rain didn't help business either. But that's why I was there in the first place. Sundays had the least amount of business, and it was my only day off from my other jobs, so it was the perfect time to sit in a comfortable plush chair and watch people run down the sidewalks trying to get out of the rain. It was also the perfect time to escape the loud and energetic environment that was my house. Usually I welcomed the energy and noise, but Sundays were my personal days to relax. Not that I was unhappy with my living arraignments, but with my brother and nine girls currently staying in my house, I needed a day to myself. Most of my time here was spent on my laptop, looking up possible jobs and other places to live for the girls anyway. So not really time off, just a quieter work environment.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a cool gust of wet air that snuck through the open door after a tall young man. He was quick to push the door shut, which was probably good as the rain chose that exact moment to pour harder. I didn't pay much attention to the man, I only looked up from my screen long enough to make sure that the one employee currently working had heard the door. Usually on Sunday afternoons there were two people here, but John had asked off for the day, and as I was technically the owner of the shop and was here most Sundays anyways, I had told the manager not to schedule anyone else and that I would help out if it got busy.

The girl working now, Kathy, was friendly and motivated and more than willing to take up the shift alone, so I had sat by the door, just in case business picked up.

The loud whir of the blender made me jump, I hadn't even heard the man order. I turned my head to stare out the window again. I was making no progress on the job hunt, but as none of the girls I currently housed were really ready to leave, I didn't mind too much. Tomorrow was another work day. I had no real reason to work, my mother made sure I had enough money, probably as consolation for never seeing her or my father anymore. That was more than fine with me. I didn't want to associate with that man at all, and moving to London with my brother had been perfect for leaving that behind. Now I spend my time trying to atone for the evilness my father continually puts into the world with his attitude, by helping out other people. Thats how my house had become so occupied.

The house was technically a gift, from my mother, just as this coffee shop was. My family had always been very well off, my father owned multiple businesses, mainly in the fishing industry, in Italy where he was born. My mothers family had owned multiple spa resorts and hotels throughout Canada and America, so four years ago when I graduated college with a degree in business management, she had been excited that I told her I would rather work at hotels than make my living by fishing. At the time, we had lived in Italy and my father had strongly believed I would take after his interests rather than my mothers. That is where the trouble in the family had started. A year after that, my brother had come out to the family as gay. My mother didn't mind, he was still her baby, but my father had taken it as a personal slight and been enraged. He had started the worst fight we have ever had as a family, and it had ended with my father disowning my brother. It was then that I had told my mother I couldn't live with that man anymore, and I packed up and moved to London with my brother and stayed with a friend. She had contacted me a week later to tell me that she had purchased a house in London and put it under my name, but that was as much as she could do for us without further angering my father.

The house was moderate sized. It was three stories tall and very open with large windows placed in just the right way to let in a good amount of natural light. The walls and floors were built out of dark gray stone, causing my brother and I to give the house the nickname of 'the castle'. The top two floors were mostly bedrooms and bathrooms. The ground floor had a large living area and a kitchen that doubled as a dining room. The house was in the outskirts of London, away from most of the noise, but close enough that everything we needed was within walking distance.

My mother had prepared bank accounts for my brother and I when we were young, and both of my parents had set aside a good amount of money in them for when we wanted to make our own way in the world. My brothers account had been locked after my father disowned him, but my mother made sure there was enough money in my account for the two of us to live comfortably. As an extra assurance that her babies wouldn't be living on the streets, my mother had took over ownership of this coffee shop from one of her friends, and had gifted the shop to me, in my name, so that my father wouldn't be able to take it away if he found out.

I had kept the shop nearly the same as when I had gotten in, the only changes I made were in staffing. I worked here quite a bit when I had first received ownership of it, and I'd made sure that there were capable managers to take care of everything, but I rarely worked here anymore, it was too quiet for me. I preferred loud atmospheres when I worked.

I had been lost in memories for several minutes when the crash of breaking glass made me turn my head away from the street.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" I heard the guy at the counter ask. Kathy, who had been pouring the frozen coffees the man had ordered, had dropped the glass part of the blender, and it had shattered on the floor. At first I didn't see anything else wrong. I stood and opened the small half door that divided the back from the customers. Kathy was standing with her back to the customer, and just as I reached her, she started to shake.

"Kathy?" I asked, stretching out a hand to touch her shoulder. She started to fall towards me, so I grabbed her under the arms and tried to ease her down. I used my foot to push the broken glass out of the way. She was still shaking, and my chest was starting to tighten with panic. I had no idea what to do.

"Can you call A&E?" I asked looking at the customer, who was still by the counter. His phone was already at his ear.

"Hi, uh, there's a girl who fell and I think she is having a seizure," he said into the phone. He listened for a second then looked back at me over the counter. "They said to make sure there isn't anything around her that she could hit," he said to me, then "yeah," he said into the phone then paused a second, "The coffee shop on Oxford street, near the radio building."

I tuned out his conversation as I pushed the larger things in the area out of reach and tried to pick up the larger pieces of glass, there didn't seem to be any shards. Kathy was still shaking violently, and she threw her head back against the floor. I shrugged off my sweatshirt and wadded it up under her head so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Kathy, can you hear me? We called an ambulance, everything is going to be fine, don't worry." I wasn't sure if I was talking to her or trying to convince myself.

"Make sure she's breathing," the guy called over the counter, leaning over a bit to see where I had crouched down next to Kathy. This much I remembered from when I had takes a first aid class in high school. I tried to tilt her head back to listen for breath, but he was still shaking. Her chest rose and fell though, so I guessed hat she was breathing. "They want to know if she has a medical alert bracelet."

I checked her wrists and looked for a necklace before I called back a no over the counter. The man repeated my answer, and paced a few steps forward, continuing to listen to the other persons instruction.

"Uh, I'm not sure, hold on a sec," he leaned back over the counter. "Here, she's asking about odd behavior," he held out his phone and I took it. My hands were shaking lightly.

"Hello?" I asked, turning back to watch Kathy.

"Was she showing any odd behavior before the seizure? Complaining of headaches or dizziness?" the woman on the phone asked.

"No, she's been fine all day, I talked to her this morning and she was normal," I answered, trying to think back to earlier this afternoon. I hadn't been paying attention the last few hours.

"Do you know if she has any history of seizures or headaches?"

"No she doesn't. I've know her almost a year and nothing like this has happened that I know of." My voice rose as I finished speaking.

"Okay, the ambulance should be there in a few minutes, try to stay calm." I took a deep breath. _I am in control. I am not someone who freaks out over things like this_, I told myself, trying to calm down.

"Okay," I said, my voice even. "I think she's stopping. She's not shaking as much."

"Okay, can you roll her onto her side? If she throws up, she needs to be able to breath." I held the phone between my shoulder and ear using both hands to push her onto her side.

"Okay," I said when I had finished. "She's on her side. She's only shaking a little bit now, but she is breathing really fast. I can hear the sirens now."

"Stay on the line with me," the woman said quickly. "Is she conscious?"

"Kathy," I said. "Kathy, can you hear me?" She opened her eyes. "Yeah, her eyes are open, but I don't think she's listening."

At that moment, three people burst through the front door, two of them rolling a stretcher with them. The one in the lead took a second to look around before spotting us and rushing over.

"The medics are here now," I told the woman on the phone.

"All right. You did a great job helping your friend. Take care now," She hung up before I could say thank you. I stuck the phone into my pocket and stood to get out of the way of the medics.

After checking her over for injury, they lifted Kathy onto the stretcher and rolled her out to the ambulance. By the time they were ready to leave, two policemen had showed up to ask about her. The man and I told them what had happened, and after assuring me that she would be fine and that I could visit the hospital tomorrow morning if I wanted, they left too. I flipped the closed sign around on the door and sighed in relief before turning around and almost running into the guy from before.

"Oh I thought you had left. Uh, did you still want coffee?" I asked, smiling a little at the joke. He laughed.

"Not really, I have had enough excitement for the day, and I actually have to get to work in about ten minutes."

"Where do you work?" I asked, simply curious.

"At radio one, I do a radio show with my friend." He said.

"Oh, nice," I said, hesitation for a second before holding out my hand. "My name is Natasha by the way. Everyone calls me Tash though. What's yours?"

"I'm Dan," he said, shaking my hand.

"Well it was nice to meet you Dan. Well, not nice, but you know," I said, finally feeling the panic leaving me.

"Yeah," he laughed sorta awkwardly. "Well, I should be going," he said as he ran a hand though his hair.

"Oh right," I moved out of the way of the door. "Bye."

After he had left, I turned back to the shop. It still looked gloomy, though the rain had stopped. I pulled down the blinds over the big windows and set to work cleaning up and getting ready to close. Usually we were open until nine on Sundays, and though it was only 6:30, I didn't want to stay open after today.

I had cleaned up the back and made sure all the spoilable product had beed put away when I realized that I still had Dan's phone.

I turned my laptop back on and went to the radios website to find out if he would still be there or if his show had ended already. It was after 8:30 now, so chances were I would have to hunt him down some other way.

I was surprised to find that his show was still on, and even more surprised that I could watch it online, that must have been a new thing the radio stations were doing, I hadn't heard of it before, but then again, I don't listen to much radio. As the page loaded up, I gave the shop a final once over to make sure the people who came in tomorrow morning would have anything to complain about, then I sat at my table to watch a bit of the show.

"Dan, why were you late today? asks Kristen on Twitter." A tall man who looked similar to Dan read from a phone he was holding.

"Well, Phil, I actually had a really interesting day today," Dan said, looking at the camera and smiling. "You guys know I always get a coffee before the show, well today at the place I normally go, there was a girl who collapsed and we had to call A&E for her. Don't worry though, I heard she's alright, but it was quite a scare."

"So is that why you didn't bring me a coffee? I thought you had just drank it on the way here," Phil said, laughing. "Well, coincidently, our next video was sent in by Sarah M. and it includes quite a bit of coffee drinking."

"Really?" asked Dan, "well that's just weird."

"Yep, here is Budapest by George Ezra."

The screen changed into a music video starting with a girl sitting alone in cafe drinking coffee. Well, the site said their show was on until nine, so if I left the shop now, maybe I could find Dan and return his phone before he went home. I shut my computer and collected the cord and my keys from my table before shoving everything into my backpack and turning off the lights. I locked the front door behind me and headed down the sidewalk to the Radio broadcasting building. It was only a five minute walk from the shop, which was good since most of the sidewalks sported large puddles from the earlier downpour.

In the main lobby of the building I looked around for someone to ask directions from. There were hardly any people in the building, most probably having left earlier in the day. The woman at the visitors desk looked tired, and slightly irritable, but as she was the only person in sight, I walked over to her anyway. She informed me quite plainly that only staff could go to the upper floors and if I wanted a tour to come back between one and three any weekday afternoon. She wouldn't listen to anything I said about Dan and his phone, so finally I just left, deciding to find another way to return the phone.


End file.
